On this day in 1836, delegates meeting at Washington, Texas (near present-day Houston) declared the independent Republic of Texas, separating itself from the Mexican government.
Mexico had responded to growing unrest in Texas by sending General Antonio de Santa Anna into Texas with 6,000 troops at his command. After a seige that started on February 23 of that year, on March 6 Santa Anna's troops stormed the old Franciscan Alamo mission at San Antonio, held by a tiny force of dedicated fighters, 188 strong. It cost Santa Anna over 1,600 troops in the seige and storming of the Alamo, and such heroes as William Travis, Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie laid down their lives to buy time for Sam Houston to raise additional forces from east Texas and western Louisiana.
After the massacre at the Alamo (in which only 30 women and children escaped), Santa Anna headed east, for the important Sabine River crossings and for the northern shores of Galveston Bay. Texan settlement after Texan settlement was put to the torch, Santa Anna driving survivors in front of his advancing army. By April 23, his troops had reached the San Jacinto River, where Sam Houston's troops were ready to stand or fall in defense of East Texas.
On a small spit of land jutting into the bayous and swamps near the mouth of the San Jacinto River is the often-overlooked battlefield of the Battle of San Jacinto. In the shadow of the rusting hulk of the battleship USS Texas moored nearby, the monument of the battle rises above the live oaks and marshes in proud remembrance of the victory of the newly independent Republic of Texas over the armies of Generalissimo Santa Anna.
I have walked that hallowed ground, from the Texican lines, over the small rise in the ground at the center of the battlefield, over to the Mexican lines where the army of Mexico was asleep when the Texicans moved over the "ridge". It was this timy rise in the ground that allowed the Texas advancing lines to reach the Mesican positions without sentries alerting the Mexicans, who were in full-blown siesta. Before the Mexicans could react, the Texans were in their midst, firing and bayonetting and sabering the professional force back into the marshes at the rear of the Mexican position.
As the Texans waded into the marshes to slaughter the Mexicans, the retreating soldiers were screaming, "Me no Goliad!" and "Me no Alamo!" in an attempt to avoid the revenge the Texans were wreaking for the massacres that Santa Anna's forces had committed in their march to San Jacinto.
Santa Anna himself tried to slink away, and there are conflicting stories how he was identified. One says he was put with a group of remainign Mexicans and the Texans noted the bowing, scraping deference that the Mexicans were paying to him. Another is that Santa Anna had stripped the uniform from a regualr trooper, but was stripped of the uniform by the Texans, and his fancy underwear gave him away.
Either way, he was brought to Sam Houston, who was lying under a live oak after being wounded in the battle. Instead of being executed, Santa Anna was released to Mexico after agreeing to Texan Independence.
After being rebuffed in its desire to join the fledgling United States in 1837, Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, adding fuel to the fire that had been brewing in the US on the issue of slavery, culminating in the internecine US Civil War that raged from 1861 to 1865.
Its unique position in the US, the only state with the written agreement to secede and which maintains its own militia (The Texas Guard), reflects the independent spirit of Texas, a state that is regarded jeaously by many other states. It is a proud nation within a nation, but Texans are Americans first and Texans second, as it should be.
The waves of illegal immigration that beseige this nation from within its own borders seek to make moot the sacrifices of Texans in garnering their own independence from Mexico, and it is sad to see another great Texan, George W Bush, ignoring what the illegal Mexican onslaught is doing to his home state. One can only hope that the spirit of Texan Independence will make itself known again from Orange to El Paso, from Brownsville to Amarillo, and that the tide of illegal immigration will be turned back and the second Mexican Invasion of Texas will result in a stronger, more unifed Texas.
bropous
Mexico had responded to growing unrest in Texas by sending General Antonio de Santa Anna into Texas with 6,000 troops at his command. After a seige that started on February 23 of that year, on March 6 Santa Anna's troops stormed the old Franciscan Alamo mission at San Antonio, held by a tiny force of dedicated fighters, 188 strong. It cost Santa Anna over 1,600 troops in the seige and storming of the Alamo, and such heroes as William Travis, Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie laid down their lives to buy time for Sam Houston to raise additional forces from east Texas and western Louisiana.
After the massacre at the Alamo (in which only 30 women and children escaped), Santa Anna headed east, for the important Sabine River crossings and for the northern shores of Galveston Bay. Texan settlement after Texan settlement was put to the torch, Santa Anna driving survivors in front of his advancing army. By April 23, his troops had reached the San Jacinto River, where Sam Houston's troops were ready to stand or fall in defense of East Texas.
On a small spit of land jutting into the bayous and swamps near the mouth of the San Jacinto River is the often-overlooked battlefield of the Battle of San Jacinto. In the shadow of the rusting hulk of the battleship USS Texas moored nearby, the monument of the battle rises above the live oaks and marshes in proud remembrance of the victory of the newly independent Republic of Texas over the armies of Generalissimo Santa Anna.
I have walked that hallowed ground, from the Texican lines, over the small rise in the ground at the center of the battlefield, over to the Mexican lines where the army of Mexico was asleep when the Texicans moved over the "ridge". It was this timy rise in the ground that allowed the Texas advancing lines to reach the Mesican positions without sentries alerting the Mexicans, who were in full-blown siesta. Before the Mexicans could react, the Texans were in their midst, firing and bayonetting and sabering the professional force back into the marshes at the rear of the Mexican position.
As the Texans waded into the marshes to slaughter the Mexicans, the retreating soldiers were screaming, "Me no Goliad!" and "Me no Alamo!" in an attempt to avoid the revenge the Texans were wreaking for the massacres that Santa Anna's forces had committed in their march to San Jacinto.
Santa Anna himself tried to slink away, and there are conflicting stories how he was identified. One says he was put with a group of remainign Mexicans and the Texans noted the bowing, scraping deference that the Mexicans were paying to him. Another is that Santa Anna had stripped the uniform from a regualr trooper, but was stripped of the uniform by the Texans, and his fancy underwear gave him away.
Either way, he was brought to Sam Houston, who was lying under a live oak after being wounded in the battle. Instead of being executed, Santa Anna was released to Mexico after agreeing to Texan Independence.
After being rebuffed in its desire to join the fledgling United States in 1837, Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, adding fuel to the fire that had been brewing in the US on the issue of slavery, culminating in the internecine US Civil War that raged from 1861 to 1865.
Its unique position in the US, the only state with the written agreement to secede and which maintains its own militia (The Texas Guard), reflects the independent spirit of Texas, a state that is regarded jeaously by many other states. It is a proud nation within a nation, but Texans are Americans first and Texans second, as it should be.
The waves of illegal immigration that beseige this nation from within its own borders seek to make moot the sacrifices of Texans in garnering their own independence from Mexico, and it is sad to see another great Texan, George W Bush, ignoring what the illegal Mexican onslaught is doing to his home state. One can only hope that the spirit of Texan Independence will make itself known again from Orange to El Paso, from Brownsville to Amarillo, and that the tide of illegal immigration will be turned back and the second Mexican Invasion of Texas will result in a stronger, more unifed Texas.
bropous
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